Memories Fade Like Sakura Petals
by Uten Naraba
Summary: Botan can't remember what happened on the last night of her mission. Why? What did she do, that made a demon chase her, and cause Koenma to send help? And why did he send who he did? HieiXBotan. Review please, even if you didn't like it.
1. Chapter 1

**Oh yeah! 3rd fic . Hope ya like it. I really feel a connection with this one. I will really try to update this one alot more. Please review.**

Flashback

Botan gasped, filling her lungs with life giving air. She was running hard, desperate to escape. The demon was gaining on her, and she seemed to be slowing down.

Her blue hair was streaming behind her. If only she could summon her oar. Her lungs were ready to burst as she turned a corner and headed down the oddly deserted street. If only she could reach the portal to the Makai. Then she would be safe.

_Almost there, come on, come on! _She chanted to herself.

She could sense that the demon was getting closer. She was almost in reaching distance of it. Her large pink eyes widened even more as she felt her legs give way underneath her suddenly. She screamed and tried to get up but the demon had caught her.

She struggled but it just picked her up and laughed in her face. She screamed for help but no one came. The demon stopped laughing and lifted one hand, as if to punch her in the face. As he swiped his fist at her, she braced for the impact. But it didn't come.

"Put her down." A cold hard voice demanded. She could hear it echoing in her frightened brain. The voice sounded familiar, but she didn't dare open her eyes.

All of a sudden she was dropped, and she fell onto the cool pavement. She sighed and closed her eyes as she lay on the sidewalk, oblivious to everything around her. Her eyes didn't open once, as she slipped into an exhausted slumber.

Present.

Botan groaned as she sat up in her bed. But it wasn't her bed. She opened her eyes and looked around her, dazed and confused. She wasn't in her home or at the rekai office. It looked like a hospital room.

Her pink eyes scanned the room once more trying to figure out her surrounding. Twice her eyes passed over the sitting fire demon in the corner. When they did register that there was a spiky haired fire demon in the corner, she gasped.

"Hiei! What are you doing here?" She asked him. Her voice was hoarse, but still understandable. Her hair cascaded over her shoulders, very unlike its normal position it a pony tail. The supposedly 'sleeping" demon opened a crimson eye, looked at her, and closed again. Hiei 'Hned', and stood up, staring at the ferry girl.

"Watching you, "he clarified. More than what Hiei normally said, but still a very normal response. But the words confused Botan.

"Why? Why am I here? Where am I? "She bombarded him with questions that she knew he wouldn't answer. He frowned and walked towards her. She stared back up at him. He looked like he was getting ready to answer when someone burst through the door. It was Kazuma Kuwabara, or Kuwabaka in Hiei's eyes. He looked around frantically and rushed over to Botans bedside, shoving Hiei out of the way.

"Hey Botan, how are you feeling? I am so sorry that I wasn't there to help you. You see, I had a karaoke number that night and I didn't know you were in trouble but I woulda…" He was cut off by a very annoyed fire demon.

"Botan and I were having a conversation, you idiot. Next time you barge in, do it with your mouth shut and wait a couple seconds before you start talking." He then turned back to Botan, who was getting rather confused.

"You are here because Koenma wanted to make sure that you weren't hurt from your last 'excursion' so that you could return to work unscathed." He then walked out of the room. Botan stared after him.

_What 'excursion?' I don't remember going on an excursion. What is he talking about?_

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Kuwabara clearing his throat.

"Yusuke's comin over after his shift at work. " He told her, looking worried. She nodded and looked down at herself. Her thoughts were brooding instead of her normal cheer.

"How long have I been here?" She asked him, many questions suddenly buzzing through her head.

"Uhh, about two days," he answered, looking rather uncomfortable. He stuck his hands in his pockets and paced. She nodded again, still not remembering anything. It was like the past five days were a blur, moving too fast for her to catch up.

Then Yusuke walked in, grinning. He walked over to her bed and gave her a goofy grin.

"Hey Botan, how are ya? The shrimp didn't let you get creamed?" He asked her with humor deep in his brown eyes. She gazed up at him, trying to figure out what he was talking about.

"What do you mean 'creamed'? When was I in danger? Why am I here!" She asked them desperately looking for the answer to why she was here. They just stared at her, like she had lost her mind, which she just might have.

Yusuke was the first to speak.

"You mean you don't know? Don't you remember anything?" He asked a note of panic creeping into his tone. She looked at him, silently begging him to tell her why she was here.

"No, I have no idea why I am here. What did I do? Please tell me" She had never been this confused and frightened at the same time.

The boys looked at each other confused and panicked. Yusuke stepped forward carefully, obviously trying to calm her down.

"Ok, let's start at the beginning. Koenma gave you an assignment five days ago, telling you to retrieve a woe-be-gone soul and to bring it back to him. You left and kept in contact with us for three of the days. You said that you had captured the lost soul and were heading to Koenma's. Then we lost contact with you two days ago. Koenma sent Hiei to find you, for whatever reason. When he found you, he said that a demon was chasing you. That's all he said, and I don't think he knew why, but he killed the demon and brought you to the rekai from the ningenkai. Then Koenma put you back in the ningenkai in a hospital and you have been sleeping for two days." He took a long breath and sighed, looking at her closely.

She racked her brains for the memory to match the story, but she couldn't come up with anything. She groaned and stuck her face in her hands. She was tired of sitting in bed and she was tired of thinking. She swung her legs out of bed and stood up, only to fall weakly back into it. Her knees weren't able to support her, so she had just fallen back into bed. Yusuke and Kuwabara mad as if to help her, but they didn't when she sat on the bed again.

She was feeling more like her old self again. Even though she was weak, she still felt stronger then she had a few minutes ago. She turned to the boys and looked them over. They looked like they hadn't slept a wink, even though they tried to keep up their grins.

"You guys can go home. I'll be fine you know," she reassured them. She needed time alone.Time to think. Her sudden flash of strength had left her, and now she was tired. She wanted them to leave.

"Ok, if you're really feelin alright," Yusuke told her, still looking doubtful. Both he and Kuwabara walked slowly to her door, looking back at her worriedly. She smiled and they walked out of the room. She sighed and flopped back on her bed.

_Why can't I remember?_


	2. Chapter 2

"Hiei…ummm, how do I say this? Uhhh….," A very frightened and frustrated Koenma sat at his desk, his face in his hands. He needed to convince Hiei to stay with Botan for the next few weeks, but didn't know how. A very annoyed Hiei was standing in front of his desk, glaring at him. The rekai prince was getting very nervous.

"Can you maybe, uhh, watch Botan for awhile? I'm really worried about her…" He squeaked out, as Hiei had just upped the intensity of his glare and had emitted a low growl.

"You might not know this, but I have better things to do than chase around stupid ferry girls. It's not my fault that Botan got herself into trouble. I did my part." Hiei snapped back at him. He wanted to leave and never come back. He hated the rekai prince and especially when he asked for 'favors' like this.

_I have a life that I don't to waste following around stupid ferry onna's. _

Koenma looked up at Hiei and then looked down hastily. His crafty mind thought of something then.'

"What if I cut off some years of your probation time? Say oh, 1000 years?" He was desperate to get someone on the job and no one else had the time. He didn't care if Hiei went free early, as long as Botan was safe. Hiei stopped glaring for a moment, in surprise.

He thought about it. 1000 years was a lot. He would only have a bout 200 more years, and then he would be free. This had an upside. He looked at Koenma again, this time not glaring.

I am inclined to accept your conditions. If either goes back on their word, the deal is off. Understood?" His jaw set as he stared into the eyes of the rekai prince. He nodded and looked down, intimidated. Hiei smirked and watched as the prince pulled put a folder.

"You know where she is. Go to her and make sure she doesn't get into any trouble." He said, not looking up. Hiei nodded and turned to leave. This would be fairly simple, right?

Botan sat up, blinking hard. She looked around her room and sighed. She had hoped that she would wake up and have it all be a dream. But alas, luck was not on her side. Her hair was a mess, and she probably looked like the living dead. She tried not to care, but she did. She looked around the room, looking for a brush or something. What she found was a sleeping fire demon sitting in the chair in the corner. She blinked hard again, but he was still there.

_Why is Hiei here?_

She shrugged and found a brush on the table to her right. She grabbed it and tried to pull it through her hair, but to no avail. She stifled a screech as she yanked on her head, trying to loosen the brush out of her hair.

Hiei jumped up when she gasped, after pulling out quite a few hairs from her head. He stared at her, obviously wondering why she had gasped. She stared back, not wanting him to think that she was weak. She was embarrassed, but it had hurt! He frowned and sat down again, looking confused.

She was dieing to ask him why he was there, but she didn't want to piss him off anymore. She put the brush down, and looked around her again. There was a bouquet of flowers on the table next to her, with a card signed "Kurama". She smiled at this and leaned over to sniff them, and accidentally fell out bed.

In an instant, Hiei was at her side, staring at her with a smirk on his face. She glared up at him, and got up, brushing herself off.

_How humiliating! Now he just thinks I'm a weak ningen girl. Not that he probably didn't think that already._

Hiei didn't move to help her up, but just smirked as she got up and got back into bed. He was beginning to enjoy this job. He could laugh at the onna all the time now.

_What a weak girl. Who falls out of bed when their awake?_

Botan blushed at her stupidity.

_I can't believe I fell out of bed when I was a wake!_

She tried to keep her mouth shut, but it had a mind of its own.

"What are you doing here?" She blurted. He just stared ahead, not looking at her. She frowned and asked him again. No response. Not even a 'hn'. She was about to stand and march over to him when he turned his head and looked her in the eye.

It was like she was struck by lightning. Her world slowed, but her mind was racing. She looked back into his eyes. They seemed deep and mysterious, unlike the normal hardness. His face seemed to soften for a moment, but then he looked away, and she had to blink.

_Wow, _was all she could think. It was like she was treading water. She suddenly felt like she was dreaming. She tried to shake herself out of it. It cleared her head a little.

_What was that? I've never felt that way before, especially when looking at Hiei. _

While she was trying to clear her thoughts, Hiei was gaping at her. He was confused also, but for different reasons.

_What was that? She just went all dopey when I looked at her. It was like she had never seen me before. _

His thoughts were racing, trying to figure out her reaction. When he tried to forget about it, he couldn't.

_This is stupid. What do I care about what goes on inside that baka ferry onna's head?_

He looked back at her, and she was staring hard at his face. Their eyes connected again, and he felt it too. Like the world had slowed, and he was moving lightning fast. He looked away, frustrated with himself. She looked away, embarrassed again,

Neither of them did anything for another moment that seemed to last forever. Then Hiei walked away and out of the room. Botan watched him go, trying to figure things out. She couldn't understand what had happened. She would have to ask Kurama. Maybe he would know something about it.

Everywhere she looked now, she could see a mysterious pair of red eyes. She closed them, and saw them, etched on the inside of her eyelids.

_I am going crazy. Besides, I have more pressing things to worry about. Like remembering that night. I still have no idea what happened._

Once on another subject, se could see clearly. Her mind switched tracks, and she think straight.

Hiei blurred out of the hospital. His mind was racing. Once out the door, he went straight to the trees. He ran for along time until he was bored. He stopped and sat, cross legged, in the tree. He closed his eyes, and tried very hard not to think. When he closed his eyes, he could see large pink one staring right back at him.

He growled and opened them again.

_Why I am I thinking about that damn girl? I'm just supposed to watch he. Make sure she doesn't hurt herself. Its not my fault she's doing something weird with her eyes._

He closed his eyes, and just shut out all emotions and disturbing thoughts. Most of which included Botan. He took a deep breath, and relaxed, drifting into sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry its been so long.

Hiei cracked an eye at the sunlight pouring down on him from the slits in the tree branches overhead. He closed it and frowned. He was extremely tired, which was rather unusual for him. Normally he could bounce back from a restless night of sleep.

But not today. He groaned and sat up, avoiding the branch above him with his head.

_I better go check on the ferry onna._

With a new purpose he stretched and jumped off the tree, blurring to the hospital.

Botan cracked a large pink orb to look around her. She was still in the hospital. She closed it and sat up, yawning. All night, she had had dreams. Weird ones. And none of them had anything to do with the night she couldn't remember.

Large red eyes stared at her from across the room. When she blinked, she could see them on her eyelids. All night, they had haunted her. Crimson eyes. _His _eyes.

She shook her head. Her dreams of him replayed again and again in her mind. It was very unnerving. She knew that she would do well to not mention them to anyone.

Her blue hair was like a blanket over her shoulders. She was ready to get out of bed. She swung back the covers and stood, proud that she didn't fall back onto the bed. She looked around the room, and smiled when she saw a fresh bouquet of flowers on her bedside table. She didn't need to see the card to see that they were from Kurama.

Further investigation found that her clothes were draped over a chair. She glanced around, and stripped down quickly and slipped on her jeans and t-shirt. She put on her jacket over it, because she suddenly felt a chill.

She sighed and walked out of the room. Apparently she was free to go, because no one stopped her from walking out the door. She smiled at all of the nurses and started down the street.

It felt good to get out of the stuffy, busy hospital. The fresh air was very relaxing. Birds were chirping all around her. Things were looking up for her.

Until he showed up.

Hiei got to the hospital and slowed down to a regular run. He knew that Botan was on the second floor, so he found a tree that reached to her window and climbed it. He didn't want to have to go in. The nurses were eyeing him, and there was gossip.

When he reached the window, he was startled to see her standing.

_She must be feeling better._

Then she started stripping.

He froze and stared for a second and then shut his eyes quickly. He could feel a light blush creeping up on him. Stripping wasn't really the word for it, but more peeling off her nightgown and dressing quickly.

He knew that she couldn't see him, but he could tell that she was feeling like she was being watched.

He cracked an eye and found that she was fully dressed in jeans and a jacket. He couldn't say that he was embarrassed really, just mostly surprised.

I mean come on; he was supposed to be _watching _her. The chances were pretty good that he would find her not completely dressed at some point in time.

He jumped off of the tree when she walked out of the room. Sooner or later he would need to find a new hobby, other than follow dumb ferry onna's around and make sure that they didn't hurt themselves.

Back in Makai

"CHINKO!" A high pitched female voice pierced the still air. A very ticked off brunette woman was calling for her head supervisor in her latest mission- Vanquish Blue Hair. Blue hair being Botan.

"Yes? I mean, yes ma'am?" A small squeaky voice piped up. It came from a rather tall supervisor who had come form his office to the room where his boss worked. He knew that the mistress was mad, but why at him, he didn't know.

"Chinko, do you have any idea what you have done?" Itai Korbusu shouted at Chinko. She ran a secret organization for assassinations in the Makai. Secret from any official government agencies anyway. Any self respecting demon would have heard of them.

"Uh, no ma'am. I don't." Chinko was confused. Everything was going to plan. Or the plan that they had agreed to anyway.

His answer didn't seem to calm Itai.

"Don't you know anything? Now we are going to have to wrestle Botan out of Hiei's arms to get her. He was not supposed to be there!"

"Oh." Chinko had not seen this as bad. Just another problem on the road.

Itai groaned. The plan had been for the assassin to kill Botan that night, or at least bring her back to headquarters. But then Hiei had shown up and killed their best assassin. He had taken her to wherever, and the plan was ruined.

She put a hand over her eyes and tried to think of a solution. When she thought of one, she grinned. She looked up at Chinko.

"Find your best scout and send them to watch Hiei and Botan. You won't find Botan without Hiei somewhere around. Then we need to separate them. Keep them apart. I don't care, but I want Botan alive, here, in my office, without Hiei. Understood?" She glared at Chinko.

He just nodded, already intimidated into silence. Then he turned tail and ran, or walked fast, out of the office. That left Itai to her own thoughts.

She smirked evilly. This wouldn't be so bad. Heck, if they could get Hiei alive, he could be her servant. Her black eyes flashed slightly brighter. The future was looking up.


	4. Chapter 4

Botan breathed in a big breath of fresh air. Her pink eyes were big and bright, and she looked at every thing as she walked down the busy sidewalk. Her blue hair swished as she walked, and she loved it when it did that.

_I wonder when Koenma is going to give me another assignment._

She shrugged and crossed the street leading to the city park. She wanted to see all of the cherry blossoms that were out. The light pink flowers were always her favorite. A slight wind rustled the branches as she walked beneath them. She lifted her head and watched as a cascade of petals floated down on her head.

She didn't notice the small black haired demon that was sitting in an oak tree across from the cherry tree.

Hiei POV

Hiei stared at the beautiful woman standing under the cherry blossom tree.

_Is that Botan?_

He shook his head violently. He mentally smacked himself. He was not going to think of Botan as anything other than incompetent. But he had to admit, she was very pretty under that tree.

He saw a petal fall down on her nose. She paused and then sneezed. The she started laughing, and then stopped abruptly.

Hiei started when she stopped. He looked around quickly and looked for any threats. When he couldn't find anything potentially dangerous, he turned back to Botan. His excellent hearing could only barely pick up the words that she was whispering.

_I'm so silly and stupid. I bet if Hiei is watching me right now, he's calling me a stupid ferry girl. I guess that's what I am. _

He eyes looked down and Hiei could see her eyes begin to water. He was confused. He had never really cared about what Botan thought of him, but he had never stood it if someone cried for him. He could feel it tugging at his chest, her unshed tears, and an uncharacteristic want to apologize. He battled with himself, and then sighed.

Botan POV

Botan just couldn't believe herself. Here she was, crying because of Hiei. She tried to dry her eyes, but only succeeded in making tears fall. And that only made her cry harder. All of her confusion and anger at Hiei for not telling her what really happened just let go inside of her. The tears fell down on her cheeks unchecked.

"I'm sorry", said a deep voice behind her. She jumped, and whirled around. There, with eyes looking at his feet, was Hiei.

She choked on her tears and struggled to breath right. She hastily dried her tears on her sweater sleeve. The only thing worse than crying because of Hiei was letting him see her cry..

She couldn't bring of the anger back so she just stared at him. He looked smaller than the last time she had seen him. His shoulders were hunched over and he wouldn't look at her.

Suddenly he straightened and his eyes met hers. The same electric bolt shot through her that had in the hospital room. She froze, and so did he. His eyes widened, and she knew he could feel it too. It was like jumping headfirst into hyper speed. They were both moving super fast, and the world had slowed.

She didn't realize that she had moved when suddenly she was in his face. He didn't move or anything. He just kept staring at her as she moved closer. She wasn't even aware of it . All she could see were those beautiful red eyes. They kind of pooled in the middle, and she wallowed in them. She never wanted to look away. Just wanted to move closer...

Then her lips touched his and Hiei moved. Botan jumped back and touched her lips. It felt like she had been burned. Hiei jumped back too with a look of shock on his face. She watched him, waiting for him to slice her through. No doubt he would kill her after daring to kiss him like that.

She tried to contain the sudden giddiness in her stomach.

_I guess near death experiences do this to me. Funny, because I've been near death for my entire life._

HIEI POV

Hiei just stood there and stared at Botan. He couldn't believe what just happened. His body wasn't responding to his brain. He was yelling at it, _screaming_ at it move. To run away and never have to see Botan again. The feeling of Botan's soft lips pressing against his was branded into his mind, and that was the only thing that he could think of.

He could see fear in here eyes at first, and then a mixture of laughter. He frowned. What was she laughing about? Here he was panicking and she was laughing at him.

_Baka Onna. Who does she think she is, kissing me like that?_

He could feel his brain begin to function again. His first impulse was to grab his katana and slice the ferry girl through, but he controlled it, and tried to clam himself down. He couldn't kill the girl if he wanted 1000 years off of his probation. He put a straight face on and hid any feeling behind it. He would go to hell and back before he admitted that he had enjoyed the kiss. That he enjoyed the onna's company at all for the matter. He head meant his apology, but he truly wished that he wouldn't have to do it again. This was going to be an interesting mission.

**Oh my god, I am soooo sorry that I haven't updated in such a long time!! I couldn't find my password to login, but I finally have. Please don't kill me.**


End file.
